Using curl-impersonate in Node.js to avoid blocks

1. curl-impersonate

   1 38 5,950 6.2 Python

   curl-impersonate: A special build of curl that can impersonate Chrome & Firefox

   

   The key to identifying bots lies in examining low-level network details, as most HTTP clients do not use the same underlying connection libraries as browsers. This is where [curl-impersonate](https://github.com/lwthiker/curl-impersonate) comes in.

2. SaaSHub

   www.saashub.com featured

   SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives

   

3. nss

   2 4 183 9.7 C

   Network Security Services (NSS)

   

   Compiling curl with BoringSSL, the TLS library used by Google Chrome, instead of OpenSSL. For the Firefox version, curl was compiled with NSS, Firefox’s TLS library

4. puppeteer

   3 412 94,449 9.8 TypeScript

   JavaScript API for Chrome and Firefox

   

   If you are an expert in Node.js web automation, you might assume that using headless browsers controlled by technologies like Playwright or Puppeteer is more effective than utilizing curl-impersonate. No surprise, those two libraries are listed in our list of the best Node.js web scraping technologies. After all, browser automation tools also enable you to interact with the elements on the page. However, curl-impersonate is just an HTTP client that can only retrieve web pages. Still, there are Node.js web automation scenarios where a library like node-curl-impersonate might be a better choice than Playwright or Puppeteer. The reason for this is that anti-bot systems often use a two-step approach to detect and block bots. The first step checks if the request is coming from a legitimate browser, as explained earlier in this article. If the request seems suspicious, it is blocked. Otherwise, the server delivers the HTML document of the page. The page includes special JavaScript scripts that inspect the browser's settings and configurations to generate a browser fingerprint. This is then sent back to the anti-bot system to determine whether the user is legitimate. The second step works because automation tools tend to configure browsers in ways that differ from regular browsers. These differences are enough for anti-bot solutions to understand that they are dealing with an automated request. For more information, check out our guide on Playwright Extra. In contrast, curl-impersonate cannot render JavaScript, skipping the second step entirely. If the second step is not required to be considered a legitimate user, node-curl-impersonate can continue to effectively send requests to the target server without resource overheads and slowness typical of headless browsers — even in headles mode.

5. Playwright

   4 537 90,281 10.0 TypeScript

   Playwright is a framework for Web Testing and Automation. It allows testing Chromium, Firefox and WebKit with a single API.

   

   If you are an expert in Node.js web automation, you might assume that using headless browsers controlled by technologies like Playwright or Puppeteer is more effective than utilizing curl-impersonate. No surprise, those two libraries are listed in our list of the best Node.js web scraping technologies. After all, browser automation tools also enable you to interact with the elements on the page. However, curl-impersonate is just an HTTP client that can only retrieve web pages. Still, there are Node.js web automation scenarios where a library like node-curl-impersonate might be a better choice than Playwright or Puppeteer. The reason for this is that anti-bot systems often use a two-step approach to detect and block bots. The first step checks if the request is coming from a legitimate browser, as explained earlier in this article. If the request seems suspicious, it is blocked. Otherwise, the server delivers the HTML document of the page. The page includes special JavaScript scripts that inspect the browser's settings and configurations to generate a browser fingerprint. This is then sent back to the anti-bot system to determine whether the user is legitimate. The second step works because automation tools tend to configure browsers in ways that differ from regular browsers. These differences are enough for anti-bot solutions to understand that they are dealing with an automated request. For more information, check out our guide on Playwright Extra. In contrast, curl-impersonate cannot render JavaScript, skipping the second step entirely. If the second step is not required to be considered a legitimate user, node-curl-impersonate can continue to effectively send requests to the target server without resource overheads and slowness typical of headless browsers — even in headles mode.

6. libcurl

   5 363 42,065 10.0 C

   A command line tool and library for transferring data with URL syntax, supporting DICT, FILE, FTP, FTPS, GOPHER, GOPHERS, HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP, IMAPS, LDAP, LDAPS, MQTT, MQTTS, POP3, POP3S, RTSP, SCP, SFTP, SMB, SMBS, SMTP, SMTPS, TELNET, TFTP, WS and WSS. libcurl offers a myriad of powerful features

   

   curl-impersonate is a specialized build of curl that can impersonate real-world browsers. Unlike standard curl, it adjusts request headers, TLS fingerprints, and other parameters to make its requests closely resemble those from browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

7. boringssl

   6 14 2,195 9.9 C++

   Mirror of BoringSSL

   

   Compiling curl with BoringSSL, the TLS library used by Google Chrome, instead of OpenSSL. For the Firefox version, curl was compiled with NSS, Firefox’s TLS library

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